What Else Are We Missing? --Spoken Word Delivered by Lloyd D. Newell

What Else Are We Missing?

Delivered By: Lloyd D. Newell

It was a busy workday as commuters rushed headlong toward their busy schedules. But on this day in Washington, D.C., something different happened: a 39-year-old man dressed in jeans, a T-shirt, and a baseball cap took out an old violin and began to play. Few people noticed. Most kept their eyes on the ground or looked straight ahead. A few, talking on cell phones, raised their voices in order to be heard over the music. These were, after all, busy people. They had work to do and appointments to keep. And so they did not stop. And they did not listen. And what they missed was a rare performance by one of the greatest violinists in the world playing his Stradivarius violin, worth more than three million dollars. He chose to play some of the most technically demanding, elegant music ever written for his instrument, and he played with all the passion and perfection that he had become known for throughout the world. His metro-station concert was part of an experiment proposed by a writer for the Washington Post. The question was “How many people would recognize beauty in a place where it wasn’t expected?” During the 43-minute concert, nearly 1,100 people passed by. Of those, only 7 stopped to listen even for a moment. The writer, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his article about the unheard violinist, summarized the experience with these words: “If we can’t take the time out of our lives to stay a moment and listen to one of the best musicians on Earth play some of the best music ever written; if the surge of modern life so overpowers us that we are deaf and blind to something like that—then what else are we missing?”1 Indeed, the world offers us daily moments of beauty that can enrich our lives—if we open our eyes and open our hearts. 1 Gene Weingarten, “Pearls before Breakfast,” Washington Post, Apr. 8, 2007, W10, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html. Program #4181 Musical Selection: 1. Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven 2. Savior, Again to Thy Dear Name 3. Praise to the Lord, the Almighty (Organ solo) 4. Rock of Ages 5. The Spoken Word 6. Beautiful Zion, Built Above 7. Ten Thousand Times Ten Thousand